Dukies on the 2025 PGA and LPGA Tours

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dudog84

Member
Feel free to post general golf news here as well, I'm not sure there is enough interest for a separate thread. Plus, more chance of any news being seen here.

Max Greyserman is playing in the 1st event this week, The Sentry in Maui. It's a signature event, and Max gets in all of them this year due to his top-50 finish in 2024. He played a bit in the fall and was very hot, let's hope he keeps up the heat.

Alex Smalley will probably play in the Sony Open the following week in Oahu, he always does but has never done well. He has never made the cut in 3 tries. He was playing well in the fall, let's hope he keeps it up and makes the cut this year. It could be a nice harbinger of a strong year.

Kevin Streelman has conditional status, and so it will be a week-to-week watch of the alternates list.

I don't know of any other Dukies who snagged a PGA card, please correct me if I've missed someone. Plus I don't really follow the LPGA, someone may want to provide that.

Here was some interesting info I stumbled upon: There is actually Fantasy Golf. Shouldn't be surprised with the state of gambling in this country. But I found their blurbs on our players interesting:

#39 Max: Until his last six starts, the rookie was sufficient and unspectacular. But, oh, those last six! Three seconds and a fourth changed everything. Landed third in Strokes Gained: Putting and ninth in adjusted scoring.

#117 Alex: Because it didn’t cost him his card, he’s granted a dispensation for a down 2024. He also rallied in the second half. The timely surge was a savior but it also can be a springboard for one of the best off the tee.

#166 Kevin: Rallied from an early back injury to reach 300 career cuts made, so he will burn that one-time exemption if he fails to grab 118.373 FedExCup points in two starts. Still cashes often enough for DFS considerations.

I don't understand the exemption rules, but apparently Kevin can snatch back his full exemption if he gets 118.373 points in his first 2 starts. That would require 2 top-13s, I imagine he will try and pick 2 events he has done well at in the past. Fingers crossed.

For those interested, here's more info with links to all player rankings at the bottom of the page:

www.pgatour.com

2025 PGA TOUR full-membership fantasy rankings

It’s time for the gift that you don’t have to wait for the holiday to open. It’s my annual full-membership fantasy ranking. Draft Days vary, so waiting isn’t ad
www.pgatour.com www.pgatour.com
 
Good stuff dudog!

I am hopeful Max continues where he left off because he looked capable of competing in majors.

Alex wasn’t quite as good as Max in his rookie year but also showed a ceiling that could compete at or near the top- last season was a bit disappointing though.

I always love watching Kevin play and hope he has a couple of more competitive years left.

Adam Long hung in there but doesn’t seem to have enough in the tank. Nice long (sorry) career though.
 
Don't think it was mentioned in last year's thread, but Max will be playing in the Masters due to his fantastic finish and resulting #34 ranking in the OWGR. If he holds position, which I expect him to, he will play in all the Majors. I bet he'll be one of almost everyone's picks in the mkirsh contests.

In 1 year, he has made over 2/3 of what Alex has made in 3. That's what runner-up finishes in full-field events will do for you. I expect him to pass Alex by mid-year since he will be playing in Majors and all the Signature Events. Don't cry for Alex, though. He's made over $6M, and if he starts the year hot he can play his way into those events with Max. He's got a way to go to catch Kevin, our richest Duke golfer at over $27M.
 
Max tees off at 10:15 HST with Brian Harman and Davis Riley. Had to look up Riley, I didn't remember his year. He had 1 win (by 5 strokes!) and no other top-10s, only 1 other top-25, and didn't make the playoffs, but the win gets him into the Sentry and the Masters. I want sustained goodness from our guys, but also wish they could catch lightning in a bottle some weekend.
 
Max follows-up with a -6 today to sit at -9 currently tied for 10th and 6 shots back. Hideki is on fire and could easily -17 or 18. I expect him to end up around t-15 or at least in the top-20.
 
Good call, Max is T20. Max's playing partners ended up DFL and NT(nextto)DFL, 7 behind and 3 behind the ST(secondto...or would it be third?)DFL. But they've still got a big leg up on most of the Tour. For the casual golf fan, these Signature Events have about 2.5X the purse and a 40% premium on points of regular tournaments, and most don't have a cut. So even playing poorly is a boost just because they're in the field.

Alex just missed out last year (he literally would have been in Max's position if he had made one more cut, or played one more event and made the cut), and I wonder if that is the reason he started off the year so poorly. He was either nursing a minor injury no one knew about or he badly mismanaged his schedule and was kicking himself, it was inconceivable that he let the opportunity slip away. We'll know a lot in how he plays the next few months, he certainly has the capability to be a top-50 (or better) player.
 
arnie said:
Ugh, Dead Fricking Last. Or something like that.
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Yep, close. :D I learned that acronym here so thought it was well-known on the board. Just pointing out that Max far out-played his partners.

Edit: Actually, the 40% premium on points mentioned is far too simplistic, my bad. That's only for the winner who gets 700 vs. 500 for a regular Tour win. As an example, a 5th place finish in a Signature Event will snag a golfer 300 points while that would only garner 110 points at a regular Tour event.

List of point distributions of the FedEx Cup - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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It isn’t often that -6 for a round is just average. In that second round, 55 of 59 players were under par with the other four being two at even par and one at +1 and the other (DFL) +7…
 
As expected, Alex will tee it up next week in the Sony Open on Oahu. I really hope he will get off to a good start this year. In a bit of a surprise (since he's already out there), Max will not.
 
Max manages to shoot a -10 and may not gain a shot on the lead! Still great round and sits currently at T-5 -19. There about six players with a chance to pass him so I’ll guess he ends up T-8…
 
AGDukesky said:
Max manages to shoot a -10 and may not gain a shot on the lead! Still great round and sits currently at T-5 -19. There about six players with a chance to pass him so I’ll guess he ends up T-8…
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Yeah, winning total score will probably be better than -30. Max showing his surge late last year was no fluke.

Edit: Not unusual on this course. The PGA Tour record was set here 3 years ago with a -34.
 
Only one other player passed Max so he ended up tied for 6th and, as the first one in the club house, will be in the penultimate group playing with the two players just ahead of him.

Once again the course was had with only one player shooting over par (+1) and another at even. In fact every player who shot under par was at least -2. The median score thru three rounds is -13, so -4 (69) is just an average round. Hopefully Max can come close to today’s round and maybe climb to 3rd. Hideki and Morikawa are just too far ahead at -27 and -26.
 
Unfortunately Max left his putter at home and is even par thru 4 missing three straight putts under 12 feet. He will be fortunate to finish in the top 10 at this rate.
 
AGDukesky said:
Unfortunately Max left his putter at home and is even par thru 4 missing three straight putts under 12 feet. He will be fortunate to finish in the top 10 at this rate.
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Ugh. Max just took 5 shots to get down from 65 feet. I expect him to respond well and knock out the back nine for a top-15 finish (he's currently 21). Whatever, he's had a good showing against one of the toughest fields of the year.
 
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